Employee Training: How Do You Rank It?

August 23, 2021

Small businesses and SMEs are not exempt from this requirement. In fact, it might even be rationalized that knowledgeable employees are more important in a small business or SME than they are in a large enterprise because there is no redundancy of job functions. What doesn’t get accomplished by one employee in a small business or SME might very well not get accomplished at all.

So, training must be considered a priority...important rather than unimportant. Training has a multitude of benefits for any business.

High Performing Team

Training allows a business to be more productive. Trained employees together become a high performing team. They know what to do, when to do it, and what the goal is. Rather than losing sight of what should be accomplished, they stay focused and on target. Small accomplishments in productivity and sales eventually reap great rewards.

Quality Improvement

Regardless of the product or service produced or sold, trained and knowledgeable employees have the know-how to increase quality. Purchasers (individuals or businesses) want quality for the money they spend. Increased quality enhances a company’s reputation and brand in the marketplace irrespective of the size or location of that marketplace. Obviously, a certain number of mistakes and errors will always occur in any business. This is just inevitable; however, training helps to reduce those errors to a minimum.

Innovation

Training allows for innovation. This could be innovation regarding product or services sold, marketing, sales methods, after sale services, or the many other functions of a particular business. Receiving input from employees who are actually performing a specific function or having direct contact with customers allows for creative ideas to emerge.

Retain Employees

Constant employee turnover is detrimental and costly to a business. The time and money spent to train are lost and new costs and efforts must be incurred in training a replacement. Depending on the amount of turnover and positions involved, the morale of the entire workforce can be negatively affected. When an employee leaves, so leaves knowledge and experience. As employees are trained, however, they have a tendency to remain. They feel valued, have confidence in knowing how to perform their individual jobs, and understand that training and knowledge make their jobs more secure while at the same time positioning themselves for a possible job promotion.

Types of Training

Training does not have to be expensive or extremely time consuming. It can be segmented into short intervals and increased and varied based on the business, employee (or employees), job function, complexity, etc. Likewise, the training itself might involve a manager, outside instructor, classroom type environment, actual hands-on, self-paced computer program, one-on-one buddy system, or a combination. The type of training is not what is important. The importance lies in just the training itself.

Continuous and Consistent

Training (professional development) must be considered an investment for the business. While training benefits employees, it also benefits the business. The best type of training is continuous training to keep employees at peak efficiency and up-to-date on new products, services, marketing, customer retention, etc. Constant reinforcement, consistency of training, measurement of effectiveness, and understanding and acknowledging changes both in the business and marketplace all help in guiding a business forward to achieve maximum results.